


Riendo Juntos

by septiembre



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22994218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/septiembre/pseuds/septiembre
Summary: A short one-shot about names.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Comments: 10
Kudos: 124





	Riendo Juntos

It’s a rare conversation that creeps up when business is running smoothly, when there’s no major pettiness and they are - _happy_. It’s startling mundane and it begins when he sees her kids’ ice skates, laid out after a day outside making the most of the Detroit winter. It pops up after negotiating drops and exchanging cash. They find their groove in small talk about summers and winters and comparing notes on their kids’ favorite lakes in Michigan. He mentions how Marcus always is begging to go swimming during the summers, that his son takes after him. Rio name drops some country club she’s never heard of as being his family’s pool of choice.Pleasantries to anyone else, but he doesn’t do pleasant and these moments leave her mind spinning. 

After Beth’s parents’ marriage ended, Beth only ever got to go to a body of water if her class had a field trip to Lake St. Clair. There was a long series of years where she didn’t go once during her summers babysitting Annie. It wasn’t until she began dating Dean in high school that she experienced the pleasures of boating on Lake Erie. Suddenly, swimming holes were within her reach. 

Years later, she and her children have built a whole ritual around Lake Pontiac. They go multiple times a summer, with a weeklong stay in July. They stay at a cabin on a farmstead with a shoreline that Dean and his parents have returned to every year since he was born. She’s had many beautiful days with her babies freckling on the lakeside, picnicking and grabbing custard on the way back to the city.Carving out traditions for her kids has been so wonderful and been so important for her. 

It’s one summer day that she finds herself begrudgingly lecturing Rio about all the work that goes into these outings and how it cannot be blown off so she can make a last-minute drop. He looks on at her in amusement, nodding along. She wants to wipe the look off his face, but - 

“Darlin’, that product needs to cross the river next week and you need to drop it off with the people who gonna cross it. Figure it out with your mama friends.”

He pulls out his phone to do who knows what, and she stews in frustration and tries to reconfigure her plans. Ruby’s going away herself this weekend with Stan’s family. But, maybe if Annie is able to drop that shift… 

He glances back up to her.“You going to Pontiac?” It’s innocent enough, a touch fond at how predictable she is but Beth finds herself reacting. A few weeks ago they had gotten into it when Rio told her all the best lakes were hours away off Lake Michigan. Which, great for him! Maybe that was feasible with his one angel child and with more than enough money to fly to a municipal airport if he chose, but with her brood the logistics sounded like a nightmare. 

“Mmhm.” 

He tucks his phone away and takes in her expression.

“Don’t be like that, mama.” 

She huffs and takes a tone. “Well, I don’t know what we’re going to do. Jane and Marcus have been asking for a play date, and I’m not driving across Michigan for them to go swimming.” 

Rio laughs. “We’ll take them somewhere close. There ain’t anything wrong with St. Clair or something off of Erie.” 

Beth sniffs. “I’m surprised that’s up to your standards.” 

“I grew up on that water.” He chides. “So did you.”

And there it is again. One of those kernels of him that will cling to her thoughts for weeks. Rio plays everything close to his chest, but he’s being as relaxed as he ever is, so she pursues it. 

“Were you ever in swim?”

If he’s confused by her line of questioning he doesn’t let on.“Nah.” He shakes his head. “I was more into football.” 

This surprises her, _delights_ her. “Really?”

She can tell he’s amused by the conversation as he play-frowns at her. “What you tryin’ to say, ma?”

She smiles at him. “You have more a swimmer’s physique.”

He raises his eyebrows. Beth bites her tongue at her word choice as his gaze runs up and down her frame.

“Boxing’s more my thing now.” She’s noticed.

“What position did you play?” 

“QB. What you getting at, Elizabeth?”

“Well…” She searches for an opening and decides to just say it. “River, right?”

He squints at her. She flushes and persists. “Riv- _er_ , Ri- _o_.”  


He blinks and then his lips shift to a grimace. “Don’t-” He shakes his head again in, somewhat bewildered, mostly in secondhand embarrassment. “Don’t say it like that.” 

“I mean- ‘Rio’ means ‘river’ right?”

Rio eyes her, his mouth pursed. The moment lingers, and a blush makes its way up to her cheeks. Why did she think this was a good idea? This is bad, embarrassing, _painful_ \- he lets out a short scoff. “I jus’ can’t believe you’re over here thinkin’ I’m a Mexican River Phoenix.”

Beth cannot help the sound that can only be described as a squawk as it works its way up her throat. When he says it like _that_. She quickly shifts her gaze away. 

There’s no way it’s a nickname for Christopher, right? It’s the only other name she has for him. Technically, Christopher has r’s, an i and an o. She does some mental gymnastics, anagramming - but, all she comes up is Chris. 

The embarrassment continues to bloom. Beth had tucked away this observation of his name and his love of swimming. Over time it had become a fact.She had precious few of those when it came to him. Beth savored it late at night, early in the morning, when the house was quiet and she could turn over the mystery of him and examine his angles. If she’s not careful tears could prick at her eyes any minute with the feelings she has from how little she understands him. 

But, she’s not a quitter. 

“Why ‘Rio’ then?”

She seals her lips. She doesn’t think he will answer. When does he ever? She tries not to beat herself up too much about him anymore but does she ever feel _stupid_ at how much she thinks about him- how clear it is to him that she thinks about him.  


“Why ‘Elizabeth’?”

Now it’s her turn to scoff. He quirks a brow. “It’s a family name. My grandmother’s name. There’s nothing more to it than that.” Her flush continues to burn. Beth is her name, but _Elizabeth_ makes her think about how homely it is. Bethie, Liz, Lizzie, Eliza flash through her thoughts - all these other names that others had tried on for her but had never felt right.How quickly he picked up one that she had disregarded and made it their name, one that fits.  


“You have a middle name?”

  
Beth feels annoyed at his probing. She knows he knows everything about her. He was meticulous in the way he kept tabs on everyone and everything and there are few secrets she is permitted. 

“My other grandmother’s name.”

He brings his knuckles to brush the cleft in her chin, as he considers her. 

“Elizabeth Irene Marks.” His voice lingers over the syllables of her name. His eyes are warm. 

It takes her breath away. Often, it feels like the world slows down when he’s around. She’s left exposed to her more fundamental self. Her world is limited to the heartbeat sounding in her ears, her blood rushing through her veins, as she alights under the unhurried consideration of his eyes. Sometimes she squirms and pivots away, ready for escape. But, with her name in his mouth, she could linger. She feels girlish as the thought that she could linger _permanently_ crosses her mind.  


The feeling in her chest swells, and she feels like she’s had a double of bourbon as she realizes.He must think about her, too. 

“They firebrands like you?”

It’s out of her control the way she responds to his charm. “I never got to meet them.”

“Mm.” He nods in acknowledgment. There’s a beat as they both take a break and look away.  


His jaw shifts, as it does when he’s rolling words around.“Rio does mean river.” A beat long enough that she thinks that's all she’s going to get and honestly she wouldn’t be surprised- “When I was a kid I was skinny. I had to front pretty hard before football, before my muscles came in.” 

She smiles. “I can believe it. I can picture you with your baby face.” He rolls his eyes at her. She moves to flick at his neck. “Without your neckpiece.”

He nudges her. “Stop dragging me, ma.”

Beth laughs. She is surprised when he continues. “I had to tell a lot of jokes. Y’know, to stay ahead of the jokes from other kids. People have always thought I was fun.” 

She scoffs again. “Not anymore.”

He eyes her suggestively.

“Damn, Elizabeth.” He laughs. “You want me to prove you otherwise?”

The double bourbon sensation increases to a triple. The moment feels lovely, _and_ fun. Beth can admit it privately to herself if not to him. She settles for smiling at him, and deciding not to match his lewd energy. 

“The word for laugh in Spanish is reír.” He continues. “That’s where the name comes from.” 

She tries it out. “Reír.” The r’s feel like a mess in her mouth, but he’s still looking at her in that fond way he has. 

“‘To laugh.’ It’s a verb. Now, say my name.”

“Rio.”   


“‘I laugh.’ Me río. Río”  


She tries again. “Río.” Beth pauses to let it settle and then mouths the syllables again. She looks at him, and he’s looking back at her. She feels like she could be swallowed up by glow, by feeling.

“And I mean, I _do_ like swimmin’.” 

A smile twitches at the corner of her lips. 

“Is this a normal nickname?” Beth blinks, a little wry. “It sounds pretty hipster.” 

“Fuck you.”

She laughs, but he’s laughing with her.  


**Author's Note:**

> An extrapolation nobody asked for. I just think its really corny that Rio’s gang name is river. Ha, is it supposed to be edgy because it's in Spanish? So I came up with something else even cornier! But, I head cannon that it fits our art heaux. 
> 
> A hug to everyone.


End file.
